"Matrikon’s OPC Data Manager is easy to procure, implement, operate and support, and there have been no problems with the product. The interface is very stable."
A global company that operates a major pharmaceutical plant in Singapore retained a provider of building automation solutions to implement a water purification system and integrate it with a Building Automation System (BAS). The integration enabled plant maintenance personnel to monitor the water purification system from any BAS workstation in the plant. Critical alarm points are transferred to all of the operator stations of the plant information system so operators can be properly notified.
An Allen-Bradley PLC-5E was used in the water purification system in conjunction with Rockwell’s RSLinx OPC server. The integrator’s proprietary controllers handled the BAS and also had their own OPC server. In order to transfer data from one control system to the other, Matrikon’s OPC Data Manager was integrated. OPC Data Manager acts as a double-headed client that enables two servers to communicate. The operations manager for the integration company had previously integrated Matrikon OPC products and again chose Matrikon OPC to establish the required connectivity.
There are 24 points mapped between the purified water system and the BAS, including digital alarm points and analog readings. All the points are read from the purified water system and written to the BAS by the Matrikon OPC Data Manager via the respective OPC servers. Points are updated every 5 seconds. OPC is plug-and-play technology, so the integration went smoothly and no support from Matrikon was required